God's Spoken Word.

The foundation of Liberal/modern Christianity is that the Bible only contains the word of God and is not the Word of God.

Biblical Christianity has a correct balance that is articulated by Spurgeon very well in the following :

Spurgeon on Hebrews 4:12.\t
"...This shows us a great Truth of God which we might not otherwise have so clearly noted. How much that can be said of the Lord Jesus may be also said of the inspired volume! How closely are these two allied! How certainly do those who despise the one reject the other! How intimately are the Word made flesh and the Word uttered by inspired men, joined together!

It may be most accurate to interpret this passage as relating both to the Word of God Incarnate and the Word of God Inspired. Weave the two into one thought, for God has joined them together, and you will then see fresh lights and new meanings in the text. The Word of God, namely, this Revelation of Himself in Holy Scripture, is all it is here described to be, because Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, is in it. He does, as it were, incarnate Himself as the Divine Truth in this visible and manifest Revelation. And thus it becomes living and powerful, dividing and discerning.

As the Christ reveals God, so this Book reveals Christ, and therefore it partakes, as the Word of God, in all the attributes of the Incarnate Word. And we may say many of the same things of the written Word as of the embodied Word. In fact, they are now so linked together that it would be impossible to divide them. This I like to think of, because there are some nowadays who deny every doctrine of Revelation and yet, indeed, they praise the Christ. The Teacher is spoken of in the most flattering style and then His teaching is rejected, except so far as it may coincide with the philosophy of the moment.

They talk much about Jesus, while that which is the real Jesus, namely, His Gospel and His inspired Word, they cast away. I believe I do but correctly describe them when I say that, like Judas, they betray the Son of Man with a kiss. They even go so far as to cry up the names of the doctrines, though they use them in a different sense that they may deceive. They talk of loyalty to Christ and reverence for the Sermon on the Mount””but they use vain words. I am charged with sowing suspicion. I do sow it and desire to sow it. Too many Christian people are content to hear anything so long as it is put forth by a clever man, in a taking manner.

I want them to try the spirits, whether they are of God, for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. What God has joined together, these modern thinkers willfully put asunder and separate the Revealer from His own Revelation. I believe the Savior thinks their homage to be more insulting than their scorn would be. Well may He do so, for they bow before Him and say, "Hail, Master!” while their foot is on the blood of His Covenant and their souls abhor the doctrine of His substitutionary sacrifice.

They are crucifying the Lord afresh and putting Him to an open shame by denying the Lord that bought them, by daring to deride His purchase of His people as a "mercantile transaction,” and I know not what of blasphemy beside. Christ and His Word must go together. What is true of the Christ is here predicated both of Him and of His Word. Behold this day the everlasting Gospel has Christ within it. He rides in it as in a chariot. He rides in it as, of old, Jehovah "did ride upon a cherub and did fly””yes, He did fly upon the wings of the wind.” It is only because Jesus is not dead that the Word becomes living and effectual, "and sharper than any two-edged sword.”

If you leave Christ out of it, you have left out its vitality and power. As I have told you that we will not have Christ without the Word, so neither will we have the Word without Christ. If you leave Christ out of Scripture, you have left out the essential Truth of God which it is written to declare. Yes, if you leave out of it Christ as a Substitute, Christ in His death, Christ in His garments dyed in blood, you have left out of it all that is living and powerful. How often have we reminded you that as concerning the Gospel, even as concerning every man, "the blood is the life thereof”””a bloodless Gospel is a lifeless Gospel!"

Agreed proudpapa. Very much so.

None of that changes by one whit the fact that the Bible contains the written and living word of God and Christ Himself.

/The word of God is a person./

Absolutely. That doesn't change by one iota the eternal value of His living word recorded in the Bible as a living and inexhaustible resource.

I think we have to remember the context of the New Testament. At the birth of the church, the only portion of the written word of God extant was the Old Testament writings. These could not be properly understood without the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

So the apostles, many of whom were fairly uneducated people, had to trust in the Holy Spirit to speak to them the word of God. Paul, Luke, perhaps Matthew were probably the most educated of the Apostles in the writings of the Old Testament. But even they had to have the Holy Spirit show them or reveal to them the truth of the plan of salvation in its fulness.

20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

John tells us that we need not that any man teach us, but that the Holy Spirit, knowing all things and abiding or dwelling in us, will naturally teach us all things. Remember the context is the absence of any writings that we now consider to be the New Testament.

Apart from the spoken word of God, the written word is simply words on a page. Remember Paul told us in 1 Cor. 2 that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. When we attempt to understand the written word apart from the spoken word we wind up with a vain attempt to understand spiritual things with a corrupt, human intellect. We become hollow intellectuals who do not truly understand the things of the Spirit.

But when we have the written word revealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we have the written word of truth interpreted and opened up to our spiritual understanding by the author Himself. God speak His truth to us through His Holy Spirit. When the two come together, we no longer speak with enticing words of man's wisdom, but we speak in demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot have one apart from the other.

By the way, I have seen many, many instances of people who are totally uneducated in the word of God, who have never read any of the Bible, when they are born again and begin to experience true fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit, have truth revealed to them by the Holy Spirit that they only later realize is even contained in written scripture.

Blaine wrote:

"Under the Old Covenant God spoke to the Israelites throigh the written law of Moses. The law had to be interpreted by various priest and Levites. Obedience was exernal resulting in an outward righteousness. The emphasis was on the written law of Moses."

Abel was the first prophet, long before the written law was given to Moses, how did God communicate to them?

Blaine

You posted John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

You spoke of working things out in this thread...

Scripture confirms Scripture...

Jhn 1:9
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

For the above Scripture to be true, Able would have to be the first prophet of God. For the Word gives light to every man that comes into the world.

Just something to chew on...

When the Scripture is read without faith : "the Bible is nothing more than just a book of words."

When read by faith it becomes a living book.

The Key is Faith.

And if the Spirit takes the written word and speaks it to our hearts how can a dedication to and faith in the written word be called biblolatry?

Quote br Blaine:"In chewing on the above thoughts of our brother Jeff. I'm inclined to ask a controversial question ( who moi?). But one to stimulate some thinking. Does God speak outside of the written word of scripture in this day and age? "

1. Concerning His universal and general will for mankind? Why should He?
He has spoken through His Son and we have His message
2. Specifically through gifts of the Holy Spirit in certain circumstances for guidance etc?
I believe yes.

I can't recall any well known Bible teachers who deny the Holy Spirit's involvement in making the word real in our hearts.